Churches organize Bluffton soup kitchen

Jessica Sparks/Bluffton Today A few of the people behind the Campbell Chapel AME Community Soup Kitchen stand by the kitchen stove on which noon meals will be cooked every Wednesday, starting this week, in the church's fellowship hall. They are volunteer Allyne Mitchell of Campbell Chapel, chef Katie Givens of Bible Baptist Church, the Rev. Reginald E. Jacobs of Campbell Chapel, and volunteer Mary Lawyer, also of Campbell Chapel.

Jessica Sparks/ Bluffton Today Members of the community in need of a hot meal are invited to come to the noon Wednesday opening of a weekly soup kitchen in this fellowship hall at Campbell Chapel AME Church, 25 Boundary St. The Rev. Reginald E. Jacobs said he expects 30 people at the first soup kitchen.

Jessica Sparks/ Bluffton Today Members of the community in need of a hot meal are invited to come to the noon Wednesday opening of a weekly soup kitchen in this fellowship hall at Campbell Chapel AME Church, 25 Boundary St. The Rev. Reginald E. Jacobs said he expects 30 people at the first soup kitchen.

Jessica Sparks/Bluffton Today A few of the people behind the Campbell Chapel AME Community Soup Kitchen stand by the kitchen stove on which noon meals will be cooked every Wednesday, starting this week, in the church's fellowship hall. They are volunteer Allyne Mitchell of Campbell Chapel, chef Katie Givens of Bible Baptist Church, the Rev. Reginald E. Jacobs of Campbell Chapel, and volunteer Mary Lawyer, also of Campbell Chapel.

Bluffton’s first soup kitchen in memory opens Wednesday at the Campbell Chapel AME Church’s fellowship hall on Boundary Street in Old Town.

The ecumenical project to help the hungry and the homeless is supported by four churches and various volunteers. The kitchen will serve food at no charge, no questions asked, from noon to 1 p.m. every Wednesday, organizers said.

“We invite all who are hungry or homeless to come to our new Soup Kitchen for hot food, and to feel the love of our community as we work together to create a brighter future for all,” says a flyer promoting the opening.

Host church Campbell Chapel and has initially joined with three other Bluffton churches — The Church of the Cross, Bluffton United Methodist and Bible Missionary Baptist — to sponsor the kitchen, organizers said.

The mission is color blind, with two of the sponsor churches being predominantly black and two predominantly white.

Katie Givens of Bible Missionary Baptist will serve as head chef, and her assistant will be Lucinda Bush, a Campbell Chapel member.

Wednesday’s menu will feature “chicken stew with white rice, tossed salad, rolls and corn bread,” Givens said Thursday by the stainless-steel stove in the large kitchen by the Rev. Issaac W. Wilborn Fellowship Hall, where meals will be served. Givens brings experience as chef and home deliverer of meals for shut-in members of First Zion Baptist.

COMING TOGETHER

Soup kitchen organizers described starting on independent paths that converged as if they’d been guided together.

Volunteer Linda Ellis of Moss Creek, who attends First Presbyterian on Hilton Head, said she was visiting Teddy McCracken at the McCracken’s Stock Farm Antiques, 1263-C May River Road, and noticed, across the street at Bluffton Self Help, the long line of low-income clients gathered to pick up food at the charity to bring home. She said she also knew Self Help was moving, as it has, to Sheridan Park.

“I figured there must be a great need for a soup kitchen right here in (downtown) Bluffton,” Ellis said.

McCracken agreed.

“She initiated it to me, and then I called Ida,” McCracken said, speaking of Ida Martin, founder and former director of Bluffton Self Help — and a sister at Campbell Chapel. “Ida said, “It’s interesting you’re saying this, because we’ve been talking about this at Campbell Chapel, too,” McCracken recalled.

McCracken, playing down her own role, said “I’m not in charge of anything. I just put people together. I talked to some ladies from our church, from Church of the Cross, and they wanted to volunteer.” At Bluffton United Methodist, “the church women wanted to be involved, too,” she said, adding they have contributed a lot of money to the cause.

She said she thought start-up costs, including buying disposable plates and other goods, were running about $750. She added that Gloria Gadson, also of Campbell Chapel, is serving as treasurer.

Some of the other women involved include Nancy Fryman of Bluffton United Methodist; Mary Lawyer and former Town Councilwoman Allyne Mitchell, both of Campbell Chapel; Beryl LaMotte of Bluffton; and volunteer trainer Freddie Hodges of Hilton Head, said McCracken and others. Other women are volunteering from other churches, including St. Gregory the Great and St. Francis Catholic churches.

NEW MISSION

Martin said, “That’s one of my things, helping the sick and the poor and the shut-ins. I’m all excited about it …. I’m very happy to be involved.

“Bluffton’s never had a soup kitchen, never every week. This is something nice, and I hope all of the churches and the community will embrace this,” she said.

The Rev. Reginald E. Jacobs, beginning his second year as Campbell Chapel pastor, said Martin brought the proposal to him last year, and “I met all the ladies from the various churches … somewhere around October.”

The church board unanimously agreed Monday to participate.

“There’s a real need here in Bluffton,” Jacobs said. “We really want to begin to reach out into the community doing outreach type ministry to seek out those who are lost spiritually and those who are hungry. In accordance with the Bible, we want to clothe the naked and feed the hungry. This is right in line with our church mission.”

The Bluffton kitchen is attached to the Hunger and Homeless Coalition based on Hilton Head Island, as will be a third Hilton Head Island soup kitchen expected to open by early February at St. James Baptist Church on Beach City Road, Hodges said.

McCracken said Second Helpings Inc, the nonprofit that redistributes unsold food from groceries and restaurants, will help with provisions. The soup kitchen will make Second Helping pickups at Bluffton Self Help.

“It’s just great how all of this came together,” McCracken said. “We’re all one community, really.”